Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

The group was still in disbelief in how things went down and now I started to transfer a few things on his phone that is for academic purposes. He picked the genres himself and I could honestly say that he's a man of culture as well. Good thing I'm always prepared for things like these and the only thing I regretted from this exchange is that I should've started with that in the first place.

"It's not about how valuable something is in general, it's about how valuable something is to an individual. I wonder if I showed him that collection? Too bad I don't have it here." I thought to myself.

"Okay friend, just call me Enrique. If I see you at the games later, I'll go a little easy on you. I could even feign sickness if you have more of these majestic artworks!" he offered his hand for a handshake.

I shook his hand as well and I introduced everyone. He still has his eyes on Tatiana but there's no worries since Tatiana could definitely handle herself and we're by her side if anything happens. The gate was finally opened and we were given entry after he dragged his drunk buddy to the side.

Enrique told us to just drive forward and pick any spot we want to. Also, he said that all the houses are available for rent if we have the proper item to exchange for it. Any of us could even join the mock games this morning since the real thing is where the rules for participants are set in place. He gave us a tip and said this morning phase is just for new players like us to have a feel for the competition later and we best make use of our time before the real thing starts. Ed nervously drove inside and I made him park where I could see everything.

The way the place is built has some sort of quirk as any gated community. I assumed the largest house at the back with a huge lawn and several armed individuals is Mr. Cuervo's house. There seems to be a party going on at his backyard since music is also blasting from that direction. There's a huge open space at the center of this place and that's where most of the vehicles are parked to the sides. Every house seemed to be facing that central part and it's huge as a football field. It's around a hundred yards in diameter and there's all sorts of things going on. There's a mix of people busy with different things and I spotted a few in the immediate vicinity.

Two drunk ladies are making out at the back of a truck and there's a fist-fight going on with a few people betting on who's gonna be the last man standing. There's also a couple of tables with passed-out individuals except one of them is still standing and kept on pouring alcohol into his glass. There's also different people exchanging different items but the most used currency is bullets. On a far corner there's a group of people cheering out loud a few people in front and I seem to notice that there are chickens buried on the ground while their heads are sticking out.

"What in the hell?" Edd muttered.

A few moments later, a signal was given and they started to fire their guns one at a time. Dirt would fly off with a few patches of grass when they miss but someone immediately succeeded. One head was blown to bits and it was later dug out to get butchered and placed on a grill to be eaten. The person who managed to shoot it was given a couple of bullets from the other participants and they shook hands after. The hole was replaced by another chicken and another round of that fucked up shooting competition started.

"There's an order at least, for the most part." I thought to myself.

"I think I'd like to join that." Jared muttered.

"Hah! No, you don't. Everyone keeps a low profile, for now." I said.

"What have we gotten ourselves into." Irene has a look of worry the same with the rest of my group.

"Let's just play by their rules and decide what to do later. Remember I lied about hearing from them from another group and him believing it then talking about doing this thing every week? If they're mindlessly killing people, they wouldn't have new customers like us or even returning ones. In some fucked up way, this place is one way to meet people and enjoy if you have the goods for it. Also, if we turned back immediately after seeing them, a tail might probably be put on us and we'd have a lot of problems with that. I know it seems dangerous here but what isn't anymore? As long as you follow my lead and don't do anything stupid, we'll be fine." I assured them.

"So casually joining the games is not being stupid?! I can't get a good read on him earlier! Anything could happen here, you know!" Kaley exclaimed quietly.

"Hey look, I can't be perfect every time. The moment Tatiana joined as well, you and Ilya were about to without thinking we might get matched with each other! Like Enrique said, we need to make the best use of our time but for now, let's eat." I calmed everyone down.

We started to eat a short lunch first and while we're doing that, I handed my IWI Tavor and all of its magazines to Ilya and he was confused as to why I did it.

"This gun is much better but are you sure about this? I could make it work with that handgun of yours." he asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm getting bored with that anyway. If you do a good job, I might let you keep that." I replied.

"Hmm, I'd like the AK that Nikolas is carrying though. It's different from what he was carrying before, that was from you, right?" he negotiated.

"Hah! I'm really starting to like you. Keep on doing that I might give you an offer you can't refuse." I chuckled.

"So what are we gonna do for now bro? We still have several hours till the sun sets. We should have a plan at least." Jared asked.

"Well, listen up." I started as I told them about different contingency plans. My group was already familiar with some of them and since Jared is always staying at our vehicle, I asked him to make the rest familiar with it first before stepping out of the truck if they wanted to check the place out.

Tatiana went on her own and Kaley was right beside me. She gave me a couple of her magazines for the Maxim 9 since she's still worried about me just having a pistol. We started to walk around the whole area near the walls first and we saw a couple more vehicles entering when we're near the gate. We didn't mind it at first as I started on mapping out the entire place in my head. We saw a lot of things in the process that would make my head itch and the only place we haven't been to is Mr. Cuervo's house.

We were stopped by the guards when we tried to enter his place so we went back to the central area to check on everyone. All we saw is Jared, Ed, and Eddy guarding the truck while Irene and Edd are talking to a few people drinking beer. It seemed that they know the people they're talking to so that's a good sign. Tatiana is still out of sight though I immediately saw where Ilya is. He's half-naked with another man, surrounded by people furiously cheering them on. I saw my Tavor with the four extra magazines and a Remington 700 with two boxes of ammo on the table with a loud announcer.

"He started to have fun already, eh?" I said, shaking my head.

"Did he just bet your gun for another? He has balls, I tell you that. If he lost that-" Kaley said, annoyed but I cut her off.

"Hey, don't worry, okay? If he lost, I'd just get it back myself after beating him to death. Is that fine with you? I know we're in unknown territory but to be honest, this place is kinda good." I said.

The fight is already in the middle stages and the only injury I'm seeing from Ilya is his black eye from earlier. The guy he's fighting with already has blood leaking from his mouth and nose and he's having a hard time breathing due to it. They're not wearing any protective equipment and what we're seeing is a textbook street fight.

"Let's see what he's made of." I thought to myself.

A huge overhead swing came from the guy he's fighting but his head quickly flew back mid-swing. He still hasn't recovered from that but his head got juggled to a different direction immediately after that. Ilya has a simple boxing stance and he's just watching the guy's movements. Blood was on Ilya's fists and a nasty smirk was plastered on his face. A quick jab and a hook was what he threw earlier and he's just toying with the guy.

"THE FUCK ARE YOU SMILING FOR, HUH?!" the guy snapped.

The guy kicked up dirt to blind Ilya but Ilya was now the one throwing a huge overhead swing.

"Hah! Nice timing." I chuckled.

The guy's foot was still in the air when Ilya's fist came for his face.

*CRRRCKK*

He wasn't able to defend himself since he was still in motion even if his blind attack succeeded. Dirt was on Ilya's eyes but it didn't even matter anymore. The guy sprawled on the ground, covered in dirt and three pieces of his teeth are beside him. The referee with a painted on uniform didn't even need to count because the guy was out cold. He just raised Ilya's fist in the air and a mix of curses and cheers erupted.

"THE WINNER~ BY MOTHERFUCKING KNOCKOUT~ VLADIMIR~!!!" the announcer shouted.

"PFFT!!!" I almost choked on the spot while Kaley started on facepalming.

"If he included the last name, I would've taken him back to my place, hah!" I thought to myself.

Ilya was about to pick up his winnings but a furious guy suddenly pushed him away.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING THAT FUCKING WINNINGS!!! YOU CLEARLY CHEATED!!! I'M NOT HANDING OVER MY GUN, FUCK YOU!!!" the guy bellowed.

"Excuse me there sir, if you have any proof that he cheated, bring it to the table. Every contestant in the fights are always half-naked and bare fist so cheating of any kind can't be executed. If you see him do such things, you should've reported it before or in the middle of the game so we could check it. Tell me, are you lying just because you lost or do you really have proof that he is cheating? Everyone watching seemed to have seen nothing and you're the only one causing a ruckus." the announcer calmly said.

"I- FUCK YOU!!! I DON'T HAVE TO EX-" then a loud gunshot resounded.

The guy's head was blown to bits and a used shell fell down from the announcer's gun hidden in his cloak. The onlookers next to the guy got sprayed by his nasty bits and a huge commotion followed. The regulars acted like it's a common thing while the newcomers like us were shocked. We thought it was over but the participant that Ilya knocked out had a knife stabbed through the side of his head. The two bodies were dragged away from the scene while Ilya's winnings were handed to him by a ring girl with her whole outfit just painted on.

"Rules are rules. Let's continue, sorry for the delays!" the announcer declared before casually returning to his loud demeanor.